"Ian Frykberg died peacefully at 8.55 (Sunday) morning at St Vincent's hospital, wife Caroline and his four children at the bedside," friend and fellow media identity Mike Carlton tweeted on Sunday afternoon.

The Nine Network, where Frykberg had worked as a head of current affairs and executive producer between February 1982 and December 1994, confirmed his death to AAP.

From January 1992 to September 1995, Frykberg was also employed as head of news and sport at British broadcaster BSkyB, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He then went on to lead a highly successful company that specialised in negotiating sports broadcasting rights.

"He has had his hand in the biggest and most lucrative sports deals for almost two decades, including multimillion-dollar television contracts involving the Premier League, Serie A, SANZAR, AFL and IOC contracts in Italy, Australia and Turkey," his profile at ianfrykberg.com says.

"A great man, friend to SANZAR and personally passed this morning - Ian Frykberg. A legend in the media and sports world - RIP Frykers mate," Greg Peters, the head of the Super Rugby and Rugby Championship competitions, posted.